The Crow
by The Lady of Shadows
Summary: “When someone dies a crow carries the soul to the land of the dead.Something so bad happens a sadness is carried with it and it can’t rest. Then sometimes the crow could bring that soul back,” Hinata whispered softly to her grandson, Naruto.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or The Crow and I make no money of off this piece of fanfiction.

Summary: "People once believed that when someone dies a crow carried the soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow could bring that soul back to put the wrong things right," Hinata whispered softly to her grandson, Naruto.

**Author's Note: No pairings. AU as of the latest chapters of the manga. Evil Sakura and a lot of blood and gore. If you have seen the two Crow movies you know the body count is going to be high.**

Prologue

An old woman with long white hair dressed in a simple white kimono sat on a bench at a local park looking up at a tree that had a flock of crows resting in its branches. Sorrow flickered in pale, milky lavender eyes. A gentle smile crossed her lips as she remembered him. She never could forget her first love. She had loved him for so long and his death still haunted her. A young child raced up to her yelling, "Grandma Hinata, Grandma Hinata what are you looking at?"

Hinata looked down a smiled down at her widely grinning grandson. His smile reminded her of her grandson's namesake as well as his grandfather. She never loved her late husband as much as him but he was there for her when the Akatsuki's reign of terror had begun. Naruto's wild black hair bounced around his face as he ran toward her and then stopped at her side. Pale eyes peered up at her curiously and he asked once again, "What are you looking at Grandma?"

"I'm looking at the crows," she replied softly.

"Why?"

Hinata smiled down at her grandson and asked, "I've never told you the story about The Crow and your namesake have I?"

Naruto's forehead crumpled as he thought about what she said and then yelled, "Nope!"

Hinata chuckled, shook her head and whispered softly, "Well, I think it is time that I told you. Now it's starts with a long forgotten belief of a long dead religion, which goes like this. People once believed that when someone dies a crow carried the soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow could bring that soul back to put the wrong things right."

"Now, your wondering why I am telling you an old myth aren't you? Well, that myth is true. I saw it happen once. Long ago, I was in love with a young man named Uzumaki Naruto and he died. No, he was murdered by someone he trusted above all others. In fact, for a long time she was his number one crush. Not only that she was his teammate. She betrayed him to Akatsuki for the love or as I think of it as her obsession with their other teammate who had betrayed the village when they were twelve. We didn't realize that Sakura still had a thing for Sasuke, she hid it well."

Hinata looked down at her hands as she remembered the pink haired bitch she once considered a friend. "What did she do, Grandma?" Naruto asked.

A grim look came to her eyes and she said, "Sasuke had approached her and he somehow found out she still 'loved' him. He used her to get himself into the village after Pein's attack to get Naruto. Naruto was unable to fight back due to his injuries from his battle with Pein. Tsunade, our Godaime, and Shino, one of my teammates, discovered Sakura and Sasuke trying to sneak Naruto out of the village." Hinata's hand clenched as she remembered the funeral for her friend and teammate and for Konoha's beloved Godaime. "They killed them and escaped with a helpless Naruto. They took him to one of Akatsuki's secret lairs and there they extracted the Kyuubi from Naruto, killing him. We found his dead body dumped outside of the recently repaired gates of the village and gave him a funeral of a hero. Not much later, Akatsuki hit all the great villages with their new weapon and an era of terror began under their reign."

Hinata went quiet as she thought about what had happened during those days. "What happened next, Grandma?"

Hinata smiled down on her grandson and replied, "Naruto loved Tsunade. She was in many ways the mother he never had. Their relationship was quiet close. Not only that, Shino had started to become a very close friend of Naruto's once he had returned from his training trip. Shino didn't fear what Naruto had sealed within him and Naruto didn't mind the fact that Shino had bugs living inside of him. Shino was able to calm Naruto's hyperactiveness down and listened to what Naruto had to say. Not many people were able to do that so Shino had rapidly become one of Naruto's most precious people. Naruto was awake and unable to move when Sasuke and Sakura killed Tsunade and Shino in front of him. So when he died, he carried a terrible sadness with him to the afterlife. A year later, the crow brought his soul back from the dead."

She looked down at her grandson and looked at him with a serious expression on her face and he looked up at her eagerly. "He came back but he wasn't the same as he was before he died. He was colder and harder. Hate filled him to the core and it was all aimed at the ones responsible for his death and the death of those he loved. He wasn't the Naruto I loved but at the same time I saw the remnants of that man in some of his actions."

Hinata went silent again as she thought about the man, no The Crow that had returned. The brutality that he showed to those who had wronged him had sickened many who once knew him. He had not been their Naruto. He had been a vengeful spirit sent back to destroy all those responsible for his death. She had wanted him to stay after he was done but as he pointed out, he was dead and the dead should not walk the earth. She had told him that she didn't care, that she loved him and didn't want him to go. He had smiled gently at her and said that he was not the man he was when he lived. He was nothing but a vengeful spirit seeking retribution from those that had wronged him. If he stayed, he would begin to hunt those who had slighted him in his childhood and he would become the new Kyuubi because that is what the Bijuu were, they were Crows who had not returned to the land of the dead when they finished their job. They stayed and became the destructive forces that they became known as today. "Grandma, what did he do?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"He killed them all and he set us free before he rejoined his precious people in the land of the dead," Hinata responded softly.

"Really? How did he do that?" Naruto asked curiously.

Hinata looked over at the flock of crows in the trees and said, "Well, first he returned . . ."


End file.
